Presidential Timeline Summer Teacher Institute Goes to Washington July 5, 2012

Seeing the sights of Washington, D.C., daily visits from the Archivist of the United States, and a tour of the National Archives “Treasure Vault” to see historic handwritten documents by Washington and Lincoln. With highlights like these, and engrossing sessions on the use of digital primary resources in teaching, it’s no wonder that the Presidential Timeline Summer Teacher Institute, held June 22-25 in the nation’s capital, was a great success.

Social Studies teachers from around the country attended the institute, which focused on liberal and conservative thought in America from 1945 to today. Presenting several sessions on the topic was Matthew Dalek, Associate Academic Director of the Washington Center at the University of California. Cinthia Salinas, Associate Professor in Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin, described how to use primary sources to foster students’ higher order thinking, and Mary Knill, Director of Digital Strategies in the Office of Presidential Libraries, National Archives, gave an overview of digital archives and other online resources. Ken Tothero, LTC Coordinator of External and Special Projects, and Ryan Crowley of the Presidential Timeline project team, demonstrated a variety of tools for integrating technology into the social studies classroom. The institute culminated with the participants creating and presenting student activities involving the use of primary source archives and Web-based applications.

The participants gave very positive feedback about their institute experience. A large majority said they would utilize digital primary source materials in their lessons, and that they enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with their colleagues.

This is the fourth summer that the LTC has provided the institutes, with funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the US Department of Education. Two more are scheduled this summer: Understanding the Civil Rights Movement, to be held in Austin July 18-21 and in San Antonio July 24-27. The Presidential Timeline, a longtime LTC project, contains primary historical resources from the National Archives’ Presidential Libraries via an interactive timeline. For information about the Timeline or the Summer Teacher Institutes, contact Ken Tothero.

—Laurie Caldwell, LTC Communications Coordinator